Housing Authority Proposes Using Grant For New Briarfield

NEWPORT NEWS — The city may use a federal grant instead of local tax dollars to make much-needed improvements to the land where New Briarfield Apartments once stood.

If that option is chosen, programs such as emergency home repair for the elderly and loans to fix up substandard houses would receive less money than they did last year.

A budget presented Tuesday by the Redevelopment and Housing Authority proposes spending nearly one-third of next year's Community Development Block Grant - $475,000 - to install new storm sewers on about half of the New Briarfield site, where most of the subsidized housing units have been demolished.

The housing authority says the work is vital if the city plans to redevelop the property.

"One of the problems that has always existed at Briarfield is the very bad drainage system," said William L. Hawkins, the authority's executive director.

The housing authority receives a block grant every year and proposes how to spend it. But the City Council will make the final decision after a public hearing next Tuesday. The $1.58 million grant for the upcoming fiscal year is divided among 18 different programs - everything from improving public housing units to helping the homeless.

Hawkins said the money for New Briarfield utility work must come either from the city's general fund, which is sup ported by local taxes, or from the block grant program. The authority is recommending the latter option. But because the grant will cover only part of the needed utility work, the city may have to pay for the rest later, he said.

Because of the large New Briarfield allocation, funding for four other programs will be less than last year, said Karen Reveley of the housing authority.

Though she said the exact amounts were not available, Reveley said a reserve has been built up in those programs' budgets so they can continue at their current strength despite the proposed cutbacks. "It's kind of the snowball effect. For each of the last eight years or so we have had a little extra money."

The Newport News Urban Development Action Grant program, which helps pay for commercial projects in low-income neighborhoods, is slated to get $244,000, compared with the $367,000 it received last year. The housing rehabilitation loan and grant program would get $300,000, compared with $452,000 last year.

The Open House program, which helps provide accessibility for wheelchair-bound residents, and the Elder Grant Program, which provides emergency home repair to elderly and disabled homeowners, each are budgeted for $15,000 this year. Last year they each received $60,000.

The city bought the dilapidated New Briarfield Apartments off Briarfield Road from the federal government in early 1988. The 457-unit complex housed mainly lower-income residents, many of whom received rent subsidies.

The city has relocated all of the tenants except for about a dozen who live in one small corner of the complex. The remainder of the buildings has been razed.

The city plans to build a school on the south end of the property and sell the rest for housing and shopping.